Freelance
Traveller
This article originally appeared in Issue #003 of the downloadable PDF magazine.
A heavier-duty, fully-automatic version of the gauss rifle, the gauss SAW is capable of a higher sustained rate of fire and can be used as either a man-portable weapon or mounted on a vehicle. The weapon comes equipped with a bipod, laser designator mounted in the foregrip (with both IR and visible light modes as selectable by the operator), a folding carry grip, and electronic battlesights (thermal imaging and telescopic holosight).
The weapon operates on the same basic principles as the gauss rifle and uses the same ammunition. The main difference is in the heavier barrel and mag-rail system to allow greater rates of sustained fire without overheating and failing. While previous versions of the weapon have been able to use the same magazines as the gauss rifle, it was found that this option was rarely used by the soldiers in the field, who instead wanted a higher ammunition capacity than the 200 round drums, or 40 round magazines. Accordingly, Kemmer-Lansing Gbmh has developed the G-SAW MkII mod B...called the "zipper" or "zipgun" by the troops who use it.
The 1000 rd belt box magazine allows the weapon to fire 50 rd bursts which give it the improved ability to engage up to 5 targets at a time with two chances to hit each for 4D6 damage per hit using the same ammunition and modifiers for armor and range as the gauss rifle. The belt is actually a thin plastic strip with the needle rounds embedded within it. The battery inside the magazine powers the weapon and a geared drive motor in the receiver.
When the cap is stripped off the factory sealed magazine the end of the ammo belt pops out, ready to be engaged by the ammo feed drive. The drive pulls the belt through the receiver chamber where the rounds are accelerated down the barrel by the mag-rail system. If a round fails to disengage from the plastic belt then the drive merely continues to pull the belt out of the chamber to allow smooth feeding of the following rounds on the belt. This development of the chain drive ensures no jamming occurs in a properly maintained weapon. Failure of rounds is found to be less than 1% so no significant loss of firepower results.
If the weapon is used in an emplacement position, such as a bunker, or on a vehicle pintle mount it can be jacked into the local power source and larger capacity ammunition drums, called "Garrison Cans" and loaded with 5000 rounds, can be used to feed the weapon.
Warning: the use of these cans requires the use of an external power source to operate the weapon since these ammunition sources do not contain batteries. The manufacturer assumes no liability for malfunction of the weapon should this warning be disregarded.
Length: 1,000mm, Weight, Unloaded: 6,000 grams (1000 round drum: 2,500 grams). Base price: Cr9,000 (1000 round drum Cr800). Tech Level 12
